PRIMARY CARE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE, ASSOCIATION OF MONTEVIDEO GROUP UNIVERSITIES: LESSONS LEARNED IN THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF OPERATION (2010-2015)

In the WONCA 2010 Conference in Cancún it was proposed that an Academic Committee in Primary Care (CA-APS) be created for the Association of Universities in the Montevideo Group (AUGM), which brings together Public Universities in the Mercosur countries and in the Southern Cone of South America. Since then, the Academic Committee has come a long way, enabling integration and opening spaces for Primary Care in this region and beyond. The 1st International Primary Care Seminar by the Association of Universities in the Montevideo Group took place in 2010 in Montevideo, with the participation of the great researcher Barbara Starfield. The seminar has taken place yearly ever since, being the main activity of this Committee (Entre Rios – Argentina, 2011; Montevidéu – Uruguay ,2012, Porto Alegre – Brasil, 2013, Assunção – Paraguai, 2014; Santa Fé – Argentina, 2015). The Academic Committee also participated in other academic programs organized by AUGM, such as Student and Faculty Mobility, Young Investigators’ sessions and Seminars on University, Society and State. The Academic Committee in Primary Care is currently comprised of 16 universities, located in five countries. A lot of what has been accomplished can be seen in processes such as student and faculty exchange, integration, motivation, development _ benefitting all academic communities as well as their countries. The authors of this paper shared the proposal for the creation of the Academic Committee (Montevideo document, 2008) and, soon after, the co-chairing of this Committee, from 2010-2015. Many lessons were learned along the way, which we intend to share through this experience report.